


Getting To Know You

by BakenandEggs



Series: Tony Dinozzo, Undercover Marine [2]
Category: Criminal Minds, NCIS
Genre: Character Bashing, Competent Tony, F/M, No Slash, Romance, Smart Tony DiNozzo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 14:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4567215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakenandEggs/pseuds/BakenandEggs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and JJ have been dating for a few months now, but then Director Sheppard gets in the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting To Know You

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Kakariki for being my sounding board and beta. I wouldn't want to do this without you.

**Set four months after ‘Roger’s Café’ (four months after they met).**

Tony propped his feet up on his desk and leant back in his chair. The move was a deliberate act intended to get dirty looks from Ziva and McGee. And, as always, it worked within seconds. Tony grinned. He hadn’t used to find joy in annoying people, but after six years of having to pretend that he did he had learnt to find satisfaction in it. It was particularly satisfying now that Gibbs was gone and had left him in charge; part of him wished he could finish up this undercover op and write up an insubordination report on Ziva and McGee. Unfortunately, SecNav was after bigger fish than a few junior agents with attitude problems.

He forced himself to jump when his cellphone rang, purely for Ziva and McGee’s benefit, and quickly answered it.

“Dinozzo.”

“Hi, Tony, it’s JJ.”

Tony returned to his previous position and made sure his grin was salacious. “Well, hello there.”

“How’s your week going?” JJ asked.

“Wonderfully, and yours?” Tony knew that both McGee and Ziva had stopped working and were now watching him curiously. He had to make sure that the phone call they heard was Agent Tony and that the one JJ heard was Major Tony. Everything had been much easier back when he had only had one fake life.

“It’s been okay.” JJ sounded tired. “We got back from New Orleans this morning.”

“Dinner tonight?” Tony asked. They had been dating for four months now and had learnt to take advantage of every evening they were both free. More often than not it seemed as though Tony’s free evenings were the ones JJ was out of town; and when JJ was in town, Tony always seemed to be working.

“That sounds amazing.” JJ’s smile was audible. “I have to warn you though, I’m pretty tired. Maybe we could just have takeout?”

“Your place or mine?” Tony asked.

“Mine.” JJ decided. “That way I can kick you out and go to bed early without having to drive across town half a sleep.”

“Wonderful! I’m looking forward to it.” Tony hung up the phone and waited for Ziva to comment. She was always the first one to comment.

“New girlfriend, Tony?”

“Maybe.” Tony drew the word out.

“Seriously?” McGee sounded both disgusted and envious. “You just broke up with Sophie two days ago.”

“Sophia.” Tony corrected him with a mocking smirk.

“Whatever.” McGee scowled. “What’s this one’s name?”

“Angelica.” Tony made sure to grin salaciously again. He had this act down to a tee. Angelica was the sixth fake girlfriend he had concocted to explain JJ’s calls. Besides him lying about girlfriends wasn’t new, he’d been doing that ever since he went undercover, though him having an actual girlfriend ringing him regularly was. Before JJ he had mostly just faked phone calls.

“Angelica.” Ziva drawled the name. “She sounds…young.”

Tony just widened his grin.

“You are a boar!” Ziva exclaimed in disgust.

Tony smirked at her – mission complete.

2-2-2

JJ lived even further from his house than Roger’s Café was; it took him an average of an hour and twenty five minutes to get to her house from his apartment. Realistically if he went the fastest route it would probably only take him fifty minutes, but to be safe he tried to always take a different route. This time he took a route that he knew had a payphone since he was due to check in with Colonel Lucten.

Tony fished the quarters out of his pocket and fed one into the machine before dialling the Colonel’s number.

“Lucten.”

“Colonel, it is Dinozzo.”

“Tony.” Lucten sounded as though he was in good spirits. “How’s it going?”

“Fine, sir.” Tony answered. “Did you get my report?”

“I did. It was interesting read. Sheppard really asked you to go undercover?”

“Yes, sir.”

“There is no paperwork regarding it at all.” Lucten told him. “It’s completely unsanctioned.”

“Huh.” Tony considered that for a moment. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go with it.” Lucten ordered. “SecNav thinks there’s more to this than there looks.”

“Yes, sir.” Tony replied. “It’s just that…”

“Spit it out, Dinozzo.”

“Sheppard wants me to seduce this woman, sir.”

“I read that.” Lucten pointed out. “Oh, you’re worried about how this might affect your relationship with Agent Jareau.”

Tony was worried about much more than just that. He had never been ordered to sleep with someone before. Just the idea of it made him uncomfortable. But he had done other things that made him uncomfortable for the marines in the past. What he hadn’t done before was betray a girlfriend in the process.

“Yes, sir.”

Lucten was silent for a few seconds. “Have you asked her what she thinks?”

“No, sir.” Tony leant against the side of the phone booth. “I’m not sure how to without telling her everything.”

Lucten sighed. “The same way you would tell her if you really were an NCIS Agent whose boss wanted them to seduce someone.”

Tony didn’t think that it was that easy at all. “Permission to speak freely, sir.”

“Granted.”

“There is a massive difference here, sir. If I was just as NCIS Agent and JJ didn’t like the idea I could turn Sheppard down.” Tony pointed out. “There is no way she’s going to be okay with this.”

Lucten sighed again. “Listen, Tony, the way I see it you have four options. One, you quit NCIS and go AWOL; two, you break up with Agent Jareau; three, you do it and just don’t tell her about it; and four, you have her sign a non-discloser document and tell her everything.”

There was only one option that Tony was willing to consider. “I didn’t know option four was on the table.”

“That’s because you’ve been playing an idiot for too long.” Lucten replied mercilessly. “We’ve done an extensive background check on her and she’s clean. I approached SecNav about it a few weeks ago and he’s signed off on it. I’ll email you the document tonight if you like.”

Tony couldn’t remember ever feeling this elated. “Thank you, sir!”

“You’re welcome, Dinozzo.” Lucten responded. “You’ll have the document in your inbox in fifteen minutes. Keep me updated.”

“Yes, sir. Thanks again.” Tony hung up the phone and immediately began re-plotting his route to JJ’s. He needed to find an internet café with a printer on the way.

2-2-2

JJ stared at the different takeaway flyers on her table with her chin on her hand. Tony was running late, admittedly he was only ten minutes late, but this was a first. Which now that she thought about it, was weird. She had never dated anyone who was as time conscious as Tony was. They had been dating four months and, until today, Tony hadn’t been late once. He even called her exactly when he promised he would. It made JJ feel bad, she was almost always running at least five minutes late.

Her doorbell buzzed and she stood up to answer it.

“Tony.” JJ smiled at him and leant in for a kiss.

“Hi.” Tony kissed her gently and then pulled back. “Sorry for being late, something came up. I’ll explain later.”

“It’s fine.” JJ laughed and stepped back to let him in the house. “It makes me feel better about all the times I’ve been late.”

Tony shook his head jokingly at her. “Well it shouldn’t. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

JJ laughed again. “True. But two wrongdoers dating makes more sense than one wrongdoer and one goody good.”

Tony raised his eyebrows in mock outrage. “Did you just call me a goody good?”

“Well, if the shoe fits…” JJ led him over to her kitchen table. “What kind of food are you in the mood for?”

“Something that delivers.” Tony, replied scanning the takeout flyers. “How about Indian? We haven’t had that yet.”

“Sounds good.” JJ moved to the wall to grab the phone. “What kind do you want?”

“We could halve a Tandoori Murgh?” Tony offered. “I’m not feeling too hungry.”

Once JJ had place their order she moved back to the table and realised that Tony had put a document in front of him.

“What’s that?”

Tony looked nervous. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

JJ sat down opposite him. “It sounds serious.”

“It is.” Tony ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I know we’ve only been dating for four months, and I know I probably shouldn’t be asking you this yet, but where do you see this going?”

“Uh,” JJ felt her heart rate increase in fear. “First. promise me that this isn’t you breaking up with me.”

Tony shook his head vehemently. “Definitely not.”

“Okay.” JJ took a deep breath to try and calm her heart rate. “You really scared me.”

Tony gave her a half smile. “Well, that’s a good sign. For me, I mean.”

JJ rolled her eyes. “Yes, it is. Look, Tony, I wouldn’t still be dating you if I didn’t think we had a future. Now you.”

Tony grinned at her. “I’m the same, which is why we’re having this conversation.”

“Exactly what conversation are we having?” JJ asked.

Tony laughed gently. “The ‘please sign this non-discloser contract so I can tell you the truth about me’ conversation.”

JJ stared at him in confusion. “What?”

Tony leaned forward. “JJ, I really like you. In fact, I’m going to take a big jump here and admit that I’m pretty sure that I love you. But there are things that I can’t tell you unless you sign this contract.” He pushed the papers closer to her. “Things that you really deserve to know.”

JJ couldn’t stop her smile, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. “You love me?”

Tony blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah.”

JJ reached across the table for his hand. “Me too, Tony.”

She didn’t think she had ever seen Tony look so happy before. “So tell me about this contract.”

“There are some pretty big things that I haven’t been able to tell you.” Tony admitted. “Things I’ve even had to lie about. But if you sign the contract I can tell you everything.”

JJ extracted her hand from Tony’s and picked up the document. “Things from the past or things from the present?”

“Both.”

JJ scanned through the document. “The consequences of breaking this include treason?”

Tony rubbed the back of his neck again. “Yeah.”

“So these really are big things.” JJ said.

“Yeah. You should read it through in its entirety.” Tony said. “I can wait.”

JJ stopped scanning through the document and started again at the beginning, this time more slowly. By the time she was done the food had arrived and Tony had set the table.

“Tony?” JJ asked, standing up to get a pen. “Will signing this, and knowing about you, put my family in danger?”

“No.” Tony shook his head. “Not that I am aware of anyway.”

“Okay.” JJ sat down again and signed the document, making sure to initial each page as it instructed. “Now spill.”

Tony took the paper from her, put it back in his satchel, and then sat down. “Don’t you want to start eating first? The food will go cold.”

JJ frowned at him. “Don’t be a tease. I can multitask.”

“Sorry.” Tony laughed. “Believe me, I’m as excited about telling you as you are about hearing it.”

“Excited might not be the best word.” JJ told him as she opened the curry container. “I’d describe myself as more apprehensive.”

“Okay.” Tony sobered up slightly. “Again, sorry. I’ll make this quick. I never resigned from the marines. I’m working undercover at NCIS because the last SecNav thought that there was a lot of corruption going on.”

JJ took a moment process the information. “But you said that you had been at NCIS for five years, and a cop for a year before that.”

Tony shrugged as he spooned half the food onto her plate. “It’s a long term assignment.”

“Long term?” JJ was horrified. “One year is long term. Six years is…”

“Difficult.” Tony finished for her. “And my handler thinks I still have a few years left at least.”

JJ stared at the food in front of her. “I think I’m in shock.”

Tony laughed sadly. “Yeah, I think that’s understandable.”

“But everything else was true?” JJ asked.

“Kind of.” Tony rubbed his neck again. “It’s not that I lied to you about anything else, but the Tony you know is Major Tony, not Agent Tony.”

“So you’re different at work?” JJ asked before taking a bite.

“I’m different everywhere. Before I met you there were only two places where I wasn’t _Very Special Agent Tony Dinozzo_ , my apartment and Roger’s Café. I would go to Roger’s every few weeks just to be me.”

“Isn’t it dangerous, you dating me?” JJ asked. “Surely if that was what you needed to do, it’s unsafe to change it. Why did you take the risk?”

Tony shrugged. “Well, I really liked you. You’re the first person besides my handler and the waitresses at Roger’s that I’d spoken to as myself in six years. When I asked my handler, he told me to go for it.” He chuckled. “I actually argued with him, but in the end I realised how worried he was about me. I was kind of going a bit crazy.”

“I’m not surprised.” JJ frowned. “Six years undercover? With more to come? What on earth are they thinking?”

“They think it’s necessary.” Tony answered. “And I’m the best. I’d rather it was me than anyone else.”

“You sound like a good little soldier.” JJ pointed out.

“A good little marine.” Tony corrected with a grin. “And so I should be. I’ve been a marine for over ten years.”

“So why are you telling me now?” JJ asked. “We’ve only known each other for four months. I could be the daughter of a corrupt N.C.I.S. agent for all you know.”

Tony laughed. “I’m told that we did our most extensive background check on you.”

“Oh.” JJ wasn’t sure she liked the idea of that. “Did you read it?”

“No.” Tony shook his head. “And I won’t. I’m not saying I don’t want to know everything about you, but I want you to tell me in your time.”

JJ smiled. “Okay, but you didn’t answer my question. Why now?”

Tony sighed. “Because the Director of NCIS just asked me to seduce another woman in an unsanctioned op and my orders are to do it.”

JJ stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Tony shook his head. “My handler told me that I had four options, refuse and go AWOL, break up with you, do it without telling you, or this.”

“And this is?” JJ asked, her jaw clenched.

“Tell you everything and hope that you understand and don’t kick me out for even suggesting it.” Tony admitted.

JJ stood up and walked away from the table, her fists clenched. “How am I supposed to be okay with this? How are you okay with this?”

Tony sighed and put his head in his hands. “I’m not, but I’m a good little marine and I do as I’m told. Even when I hate it.”

“Even when it’s completely immoral?” JJ asked.

Tony was silent.

“And how exactly were you and your handler expecting me to respond to this?” JJ asked.

“I don’t know about Colonel Lucten,” Tony said, his expression resigned. “But this was pretty much was I was expecting. Followed by a very painful breakup.”

This made JJ pause. “And you told me anyway.”

Tony looked hurt. “Of course I did. I would never cheat on you.”

“At least not without telling me about it first.” JJ snapped. “Who is this woman you’re supposed to…seduce. Are you allowed to tell me that?”

Tony rubbed his neck. “Her name is Jeanne Benoit. She’s the daughter of an international weapons dealer.”

“And your boss thinks that she will, what, lead you to her father?”

“No.” Tony shook his head.  “The Director of NCIS thinks that, my boss thinks that it will lead us to corrupt NCIS agents.”

“And both of them are willing to pimp you out to get their result?” JJ asked.

Tony looked tired. “Yeah. Basically.”

“Isn’t this illegal?”

Tony shrugged.

“So you could walk away?” JJ asked hopefully. “And they couldn’t prosecute you?”

“I can’t do that.” Tony replied.

“Can’t or won’t?” JJ asked.

Tony stood up, looking defeated. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” JJ dug her nails into her hand to try and prevent herself from crying.

“I should go.” Tony bent down and picked up his satchel. The one containing the contract that had started this whole thing.

“Yeah.” JJ turned away to hide her tears.

“I am so sorry, JJ.” Tony sounded devastated. “I love you.”

The words didn’t seem to hold the same ability to make her heart sing as they had before.

“Just not enough to not do this.” She accused.

Tony didn’t reply.

JJ waited until she heard the front door closing behind him before allowing herself to burst into tears.

2-2-2

Tony felt like punching something. He didn’t blame JJ for reacting the way she had, heck he had been similarly horrified when Sheppard had first told him her plan. He had even considered refusing, but then his training had kicked in. He had never turned down a mission before, never refused to follow an order before.

But then he’d never been asked to do anything like this before, never been asked to sleep with a woman as part of his cover.

He wasn’t sure what horrified him the most, the fact that he was willing to prostitute himself for his mission or the fact that he was going to lose JJ over it.

2-2-2

“Lucten.” The Colonel sounded as though he had just woken up.

Tony looked at his watch and winced, it was two in the morning. Had he really been driving around for that long?

“Sorry, it is so late, sir. It is Dinozzo.”

Lucten sighed. “Let me guess, she didn’t take it well.”

Tony laughed bitterly. “Not at all, sir.”

“Did you expect her too?”

“No, sir.” Tony leaned his forehead against the wall of the phone booth. “Sir, I’m not comfortable with this mission.”

“Is this you talking? Or Agent Jareau?” Lucten sounded more awake now.

“Me.” Tony admitted.

Lucten was silent for a moment. “Listen, Dinozzo, you don’t have to do this. Realistically the fact that she asked you gives us enough to arrest her.”

“But?” Tony asked.

“But nothing.” Lucten replied. “I’m sorry, son. I should have given you the option to refuse when you first told me about it.”

Tony sighed in relief. “Thank you, sir. How will this affect my assignment?”

“It won’t.” Lucten answered. “We’ll arrest her, appoint the next guy on SecNav’s list to be Director and you’ll see what dirt you can dig up on him.”

“Yes, sir.” Tony smiled. “And you’re certain I’m not screwing things up.”

“I’m not saying that we wouldn’t get things out of you following Sheppard’s order.” Lucten admitted. “But your mission is to get Sheppard and any other corrupt NCIS Agents, not to take down international arms dealers.”

Tony considered that. “Anything you need from me to help prosecute Sheppard?”

“A recording of her ordering you to seduce that woman wouldn’t hurt.” Lucten replied.

Tony grinned. “Yes, sir. I’m on it.”

“Now go home.” Lucten ordered. “And get some sleep.”

“Yes, sir. Good night, sir.”

“Night.” Lucten hung up.

Tony replaced the phone and walked back to his car. Should he ring JJ now and risk waking her up? Or wait until morning?

He pulled out his cellphone and hit speed dial. He didn’t want to risk her being uncontactable in the morning.

“Tony, it’s the middle of the night.” JJ sounded grumpy and half asleep.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve said that already.” JJ growled.

“I rang Colonel Lucten.” Tony told her.

“Who?”

“My handler.”

“Oh, your pimp.”

Tony winced. “I’m not doing it, JJ.”

JJ was silent for a moment. “And your colonel is alright with that?”

“Yeah.” Tony smiled. “Thanks! I hadn’t considered that I could refuse.”

“That’s because you’re such a good little marine.” JJ pointed out in a teasing voice. “Wait, did you do this for me? Or for you?”

“For both of us.” Tony replied. “I didn’t exactly like the idea either.”

JJ was sounding much more awake. “So what does this mean? For your mission I mean?”

“It means that sometime in the next few weeks Sheppard will be arrested and I will have a new target.” Tony explained. “And it means that someone will have to find another way to catch The Frog.”

“Who?”

“The international arms dealer.”

“Oh.” JJ giggled. “Weird name.”

“Yeah.” Tony shrugged. “I think it’s because he’s French.”

“Makes sense.”

“So,” Tony drew the word out. “Where does this leave us?”

“Other than awake at two in the morning and needing to be up in four hours?” JJ asked.

Tony winced. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” JJ reassured him. “I’m glad you rang. I think this leaves us where we were before you told me about your mission to seduce that woman. Having just declared our love for each other.”

Tony smiled. “I liked that place.”

“Yeah, me too.” JJ agreed. “Can we have dinner tomorrow? There are things we need to talk about.”

Tony didn’t like the sound of that. “What kind of stuff?”

“Nothing bad.” JJ laughed. “I have questions about this undercover thing, and we need to talk about how it affects us.”

“Right.” Tony grinned. “The kind of conversation we would have had tonight if we hadn’t gotten side tracked.”

“Side tracked?” JJ sounded like she was grinning. “That’s what you’re calling it?”

“It’s as good a description as any.” Tony defended.

“Good night, Tony.”

Tony smiled. “Night, JJ, see you tomorrow.”

2-2-2

It was surprisingly easy to get Sheppard to incriminate herself on tape. It certainly helped that she had been furious when Tony told her of his decision. Apparently she hadn’t even considered that Tony might not be willing to accept the op.

Tony turned into JJ’s street and parked in front of her house. He had never dated anyone who actually owned their own home before, apartments yes, but not an actual house with a yard. But it made sense, he couldn’t imagine JJ living in an apartment in the middle of the city.

“Tony.” JJ waved at him as he got out of his car. By the looks of it, she had been gardening.

“Hey.” Tony strode towards her and then leaned in for a kiss. “You look relaxed.”

JJ looked down at her dirt covered shorts and t-shirt and shrugged. “They gave us the afternoon off and my garden was really starting to get away from me.”

Tony hadn’t noticed. “Sounds like a good day.”

JJ grinned, “I’m just about finished. You can go inside if you like, I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Tony shook his head. “Can I help?”

JJ looked sceptical. “You’ll get dirt on your suit.”

Tony laughed. “I can get it dry cleaned.”

“Okay.” JJ smiled at him. “See that pile of weeds? It needs to go in the compost heap round back.”

“Got it. Is the compost easy to find?”

“Back right corner of the yard.” JJ told him.

“Great.” Tony took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, thankful that he wasn’t wearing a white shirt. “I’m on it.”

Half an hour later they were both cleaned up and Tony was watching JJ cook. It was a skill he had always admired, especially since he could hardly boil an egg.

“Anything I can do to help?” He asked.

JJ looked up from the vegetables she was cutting with a grin. “I’m not sure I want you anywhere near my kitchen. Not after hearing about some of your culinary disasters.”

Tony laughed. “Tell you what, how about I chop those carrots. I’m pretty skilled at handling a knife.”

JJ eyed with mock wariness and then surrendered the knife to him. “Try and copy the ones I’m already done.”

“Okay.” Tony looked at the carrot she had cut and tried to replicate it. “Oops.”

JJ looked up from the garlic she had begun to prepare and laughed. “That looks nothing like the ones I did.”

“It was my first try.” Tony defended the pitiful looking carrot. “I’ll get it.”

“Hmmhm.” JJ didn’t sound convinced.

“So, you said you had questions.” Tony prompted her. “About me being undercover.”

“Yeah.” JJ looked behind her at the kitchen table. “I actually have a list.”

Tony grinned. “Any you know off by heart?”

“What did you do before they sent you undercover?” JJ asked rolling her eyes at him.

“I mostly worked at a desk.” Tony admitted. “I did a lot of undercover work in my twenties, but when they promoted me to Captain I spent more time supervising other people who were going undercover.”

“Is that when you did your PHD?”

“I started it then.” Tony grinned as his carrot pieces began to look more like JJ’s. “I finished in three years ago, it gave me something to do when I wasn’t working.”

“So why did you get this assignment?” JJ asked, she was doing something with shrimp now.

“Because they knew I could handle it.” Tony shrugged. “And because they needed someone old enough to be respected by the higher ups at NCIS. I’m done with the carrots, now what?”

JJ came over to check. “Good job. Uh, can you cut the courgettes the same?”

“Sure.” Tony smiled at her.

JJ went back to the shrimp. “So who do the people at N.C.I.S. think you are?”

“A chauvinistic womanizing clown.” Tony picked up a courgette and cut the ends off. “My file says that I became a cop straight out of college. I went Ohio State on a football scholarship and majored in Phys. Ed.”

“Phys. Ed?” JJ looked sceptical. “And they believe that?”

Tony laughed. “You haven’t met Very Special Agent Tony Dinozzo. I think most of the time they’re surprised I didn’t drop out.”

“You said they thought you were a womanizer?” JJ asked, she had begun to add ingredients to the saucepan now.

“Yeah. I hit on everyone I meet. They think I date a new woman pretty much every week.” Tony admitted.

JJ scrunched up her face. “Seriously?”

“It means they underestimate me.” Tony explained. “I don’t actually date. You’re actually the first woman I’ve dated since I went undercover.”

“Are you seriously telling me that when I met you, you hadn’t had a date in six years?”

“More like six and a half.” Tony ignored JJ’s stunned look. “I was too busy getting everything set up the six months before I joined the cops.”

“Wow.” JJ breathed. “So how do you get your colleagues to think you date a lot of women?”

Tony shrugged. “Mostly a lot of fake phone calls.”

“And you’re still doing that?” JJ asked.

“No,” Tony finished cutting the last courgette. “Now I just use our phone calls and pretend that you’re a different person every week.”

“You’re kidding.” JJ’s eyebrows rose. “So who do they think you’re dating at the moment?”

“Angelica.” Tony told her. “Where do you want these veges?”

“In the medium sized pan, third draw.” JJ replied. “Angelica? Seriously?”

“Last week it was Sophia.” Tony opened the drawer and tried to figure out which of the many pots was the medium sized one. “Before that I told them I was dating Pauline.”

“Where do you come up with these names?” JJ asked incredulously.

“I have a baby book at my apartment.” Tony told her, placing a pan on the bench. “Will this do?”

“Yeah, it’s great.” JJ poured some oil in the bottom of the pan and put it on the stove. “Exactly how many girlfriends have passed my phone calls off as?”

“Six.” Tony pulled two wine glasses out of the cupboard. “You ready for a glass?”

“Oo, please.” JJ turned away from the stove. “What happens if they hack your phone records?”

Tony crouched down to look at JJ’s wine rack. “What are you in the mood for?”

“How about that Sauvignon Blanc you brought around last week?” JJ suggested. “It will go well with the shrimp.”

“Okay.” Tony pulled the bottle out. “And regarding my phone records, we need to figure something out about that.”

JJ stopped stirring the saucepan and turned to face him. “How do you contact your handler?”

“Payphone.” Tony poured them each a glass of wine.

“I don’t see that working out for us.” JJ commented.

“No.” Tony placed JJ’s glass on the bench next to her. “One option is for you to get a second phone and change sim cards a lot.”

“As in a different sim card every time you change imaginary girlfriends?” JJ asked, turning back to the stove.”

“Yeah.”

“Won’t that still look suspicious?” JJ asked. “It will look like a bunch of different burn phones.”

Tony shrugged. “I’ll ask Lucten what he thinks. We’re not expecting anyone to start looking to my accounts any time soon.”

“Okay, third question.” JJ began.

“Third question?” Tony interrupted incredulously. “You’ve asked more questions than that!”

“Not from my list I haven’t.” JJ replied with a grin. “Now…”

 


End file.
